In the 2021-2022 California Budget, Governor Gavin Newsom and the California State Legislature signed Assembly Bill 469, which includes a new policy that requires all public schools and educational agencies, including private and public, to confirm that all graduating high school seniors complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the California Dream Act Application (CADAA), or an opt-out form starting in the 2022-2023 academic school year, according to the California Student Aid Commission.
This school year, the FAFSA cycle runs from Oct. 2, 2022, to March 2, 2023; each year, students receive approximately $112 billion of aid, $3.75 billion of which went unclaimed last year according to a National College Attainment Network (NCAN) report.
The policy now requires all schools “share the current school year’s roster of pupils with the commission, and require the commission to match data on pupil completion of financial aid forms, as specified,” ensuring that every student has filled out an application or has signed an opt-out form, as stated in Assembly Bill 469.
“There are various reasons why people have chosen not to fill it (financial aid forms) out,” Associate Principal Skyler Draeger said. Some of it is because they don’t think they make that income bracket. Some students are not going to college, so they don’t fill it out. Others might be going to community college. But then there’s going to be that group of people that maybe don’t understand the process, or are scared of the deadline, or don’t realize the resources they have,” he added.
The new law requires schools to play their part in making sure that students are receiving the right information, Draeger said. MHS is attempting to increase the number of “Cash for College” nights, where students learn about financial aid and work with community college counselors to fill out forms, he said. The school is also working to clearly publish all deadlines in relation to financial aid, he added.
“If a student has filled it (their financial aid forms) out, they’re good,” Draeger said. If they haven’t filled it out, what the state wants from the school system is for the parent to either fill out an opt-out form or for the parents to file the FAFSA regardless of income level. Parents have a right to opt-out if they do not want to fill it out, and then schools also have an obligation to show that they’ve encouraged this work and they’ve gotten the message out,” he added.
There is also a final option for which a school can opt-out certain students after getting no response from parents or students, Draeger said. A counselor can sign off on it, and the school has to certify to the state that they have done everything in their power to make sure that students and families know about the process and complete the process, he added.
“We are in full compliance with the law, which is requiring us to show that we’re making the effort to get the word out and meet with our students,” Draeger said. In the past, we’ve offered these events, and the only difference is now that we are documenting,” he said.